Autopsies, not graveyards

For a while, my CV carried a graveyard: a named list of ventures that had died, alongside the ones that lived. I published it because I believed failures were evidence — proof of iterations run, tuition paid, lessons carried forward. I still believe that. But I no longer publish the names, and the reason is worth writing down.

A dead venture's name teaches a reader nothing. It satisfies curiosity and creates obligations — every named company's afterlife becomes something to explain forever. The lesson inside it, extracted and stated plainly, teaches everything and ages well. So the graveyard became an autopsy table. The names are retired. The findings are published here, one at a time, in the open — because the failure archive is a public asset, and quiet corner-cutting is what breaks the covenant, not failing.

If you are building something and it is dying, the most valuable thing you can do is name what killed it while the evidence is fresh. You can do that without a headstone.